As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. Among the options available to users are information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes, thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
In a computer network, a data storage assembly may include multiple data storage devices in communication with a switch fabric containing one or more switches. Multiple hosts may be connected to the data storage assembly via the switch fabric. A network administrator may configure the network with access rules that control whether or not specific hosts may access various areas in one or more of the data storage devices. For instance, switch zoning is one common methodology for implementing access rules for data storage systems. Basically, switch zoning involves configuring the switch fabric to control which data storage devices can be detected by which hosts.